• HOME
  • ABOUT ME
    • LIFE WITH LEIGHANN
    • STANDUP STORIES
    • LEIGHANN'S EPK
  • STANDUP VIDEOS
  • HOST & EMCEE
  • CALENDAR
  • BOOKS ON AMAZON +
    • DICT JOKES
    • REAL WOMEN
  • PODCAST
    • RESOURCES FOR CAREGIVERS
    • ARTICLES OF INTEREST
  • CONTACT & HIRE
  LeighannLord.com
Picture
Leighann Lord is a standup comedian, author,
and creator of the People with Parents Podcast.
Her humor books and comedy albums
​are available on Amazon and iTunes.

#LifewithLeighann
BUY MY BOOKS ON AMAZON
VISIT ME ON GOOD READS

Thanksgiving Is Always Different

11/22/2020

3 Comments

 
Picture
For my TLDR Folks: Skip to the end for the SoundCloud audio link.
You start out at the kids’ table and then at some point you get promoted to the grown-ups’ table.

One year you're sitting in the back seat while your parents drive to Grandma's house; the next, you're driving yourself so you can dip out after dessert to go meet up with friends.
Thanksgiving dinner is always at Grandma's house and she cooks everything. And then one year it moves to Auntie's house, with everybody bringing a dish, because Nana can't do it all anymore.

And did you ever notice that it’s always Grandma's house even though Grandpa lives there too?

One year you bring a date to Thanksgiving dinner. The next, you bring a spouse or a baby. And everybody says how much that baby looks like Aunt This One or Uncle That One, or just like Nana who passed away last year. Or was it the year before?

Then one year the dinner is at your house. And it's a lot of freaking work. You try to get one of your siblings or cousins to do it next year. (The ones who are even there and not spending this year at their in-laws.)

You try sweet-talking the Aunt who used to do it, but she declared last year that she was retired from it and she meant it. But you get her to agree to make the mac and cheese because although you have Nana's recipe it’s not the same.

One year, your junior in college (when did that happen?) can't make it home for Thanksgiving; or they can and they bring along two friends. You put them at the kids’ table. You don't call it that, but you're thinking it.

And suddenly cutting the turkey is an even bigger deal because it's the first year your Dad's not there to do it.

And then your youngest, who's been married for five years (wait, what?), calls to invite you to Thanksgiving Dinner at their house but can you please, please, please bring the cornbread because nobody makes it like you; and you're thinking nobody made it like your Mom, who looks just like the newest grand baby who's toddling now.

You think, it might be nice to have dinner at someone else's house for a change, but the kids live in another state and it’s a really long drive and it’s been a really long year and the C-word (Covid) and you say, "Can we skip it this year?"

And instead of resistance you hear a sigh of relief as they confess, “This is a lot of freaking work!” You smile and say, “Yes. Yes it is.” 

But you promise to be there next year. You'll bring the cornbread and the mac and cheese. But you're gently told that Cousin Whoever makes it better. You harrumph but agree, “True, true.”

And you wonder how the family will deal with Thanksgiving being different this year. The same way they do every year.
LeighannLord · But Isn't Thanksgiving Always Different?
3 Comments
Angela Verges link
11/22/2020 02:23:10 pm

Love this. Family Thanksgiving, so relatable.

Reply
Ilene Beckerman link
11/24/2020 05:50:14 pm

You got it all right.l

Reply
Elaine
12/20/2020 08:21:05 pm

This is so true. Had me tearing up as I reminisced about those subtle changes that we don’t even recognize while they’re happening, but years later we talk about them at Thanksgiving.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Leighann Lord is a veteran stand-up comedian, author, and podcaster. 

    She has written several humor books including: Dict Jokes: Alternate Definitions for Words You’ve Probably Never Heard of But Will Definitely Never Forget and Real Women Do It Standing Up: Stories From the Career of a Very Funny Lady, which has been called “Witty and unexpectedly vulnerable.” Both titles and more are available on Amazon.

    Leighann was the creator of the weekly humor column, The Urban Erma, which was the longest running column in Stage Time Magazine. She has contributed to The Huffington Post and wrote for the pilot of The Chris Rock Show. She is the creator and host of the People with Parents podcast, where she shares personal stories about the role reversal between adult children and their aging parents.
     
    Leighann earned her BA degree in Journalism and Creative Writing from Baruch College, City University of New York, her honorary PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from Southhampton University, and is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, East. In 2019 she received the Humanist Arts Award from the American Humanist Association. 
     
    Leighann is also a firm supporter of the Oxford Comma.

    Archives

    July 2022
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017

    RSS Feed

LEIGHANN LORD - VERYFUNNYLADY.com - Comedian – Author – Human
  347-871-8768 |  © COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Website Cover Photo by Lamar Carter
Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee
  • HOME
  • ABOUT ME
    • LIFE WITH LEIGHANN
    • STANDUP STORIES
    • LEIGHANN'S EPK
  • STANDUP VIDEOS
  • HOST & EMCEE
  • CALENDAR
  • BOOKS ON AMAZON +
    • DICT JOKES
    • REAL WOMEN
  • PODCAST
    • RESOURCES FOR CAREGIVERS
    • ARTICLES OF INTEREST
  • CONTACT & HIRE